But seeing some of the promotional art and the trailers for Zeroin, I was.... disappointed. Yeah, this anime was just retreading part of the Sanzo party's adventure that was already done... the story of their encounter with Hazel, the western priest who is able to bring people back from the dead.
That's it, that's the entire arc, with some minor differences and some original minor bits from the manga. So for that, I'll give the story a five.
The art was pretty good, though it seems like some corners were cut but seeing that it was the same animators from Tokyo Revengers working on this show, I was okay with it. But it's still kinda disappointing in some ways but I'll deal with it. The art and animation gets a 7.
The sounds were pretty good, well the music and the voice acting were good (sorry but none of the OP or ED of the other Saiyuki animes will ever top "ID" from Saiyuki Reload for me). The sound effects were still good and everything was crisp and clear but I just think something felt off to me. The score for Sounds is a 5.
Characters, oh the characters... They were alright. All the characters still have the same personalities as they did in previous seasons, except when comparing their development in Zeroin to the Blast season, it feels like they've regressed but that's because the events of Zeroin happens before the events of Blast. So yeah. It was interesting seeing the characters in a similar art style as Tokyo Revengers but that's about all I can say really... SO the score for character is 7.
Finally, we got to my enjoyment, my enjoyment was very low, I mean I enjoyed some things about Zeroin but eh, like I said before, this part of the Sanzo party's story has already been told. I don't think there's really anything new anyone can come up with unless you just do a random one shot episode that would probably feel more like it's derailing the flow of the story rather than adding onto it. With that said, my enjoyment was a 5.
Overall, this series wasn't too bad but I think I was pretty much let down by the fact that it's just retelling the Sanzo party's encounter with Hazel, which isn't a bad thing usually but I think I would've preferred there to be a mini side series detailing the shenanigans of Kougaiji's party, telling what theyre up to when they're not fighting the Sanzo Party. That would've been cool until the manga's story is finally complete (if it isn't already) and we can just get the last steps of the story adapted into an official anime.
So with that being said, don't be turned off from this anime, because it is the first thing we've got from the Saiyuki franchise, anime wise, in like 5 years and I will soak up anything Saiyuki related until the Sanzo party's adventure is truly done.
